Bennett, the 29-year-old from Carrick-on-Suir, could not repeat what was his first career Tour stage win 24 hours earlier in Ile de Ré as he swapped places on the podium with Ewan, his third place on the road being upgraded to second after Sagan was punished for a shove on Jumbo-Visma’s Wout van Aert, who was promoted to third.
The 167.5km stage from Chatelaillon-Plage ended in a somewhat messy sprint, with Van Aert lighting it up early before he was shoved out of the way by the hard-charging Sagan, while Ewan had the speed to round Bennett before the line.
🦅 The aerial view from the finish in Poitiers, won by @CalebEwan in a tight contest!
🦅 Vue aérienne de ce sprint à @poitiersfr remporté d'un rien par @CalebEwan !#TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/UHs7ks324H— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 9, 2020
The photo finish for second between Sagan and Bennett became irrelevant once commissaires had studied the footage again, relegating Sagan to 85th on the day.
Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Bennett was hoping to repeat the victory of fellow Irishman Sean Kelly the last time a Tour stage finished in Poitiers but had to settle for strengthening his grip on green.
If Sagan’s second place had stood his lead would have been down to 15 points, but with the penalty applied it grew to 68.
Green jersey wearer @Sammmy_Be moves up to second on the stage after Peter Sagan was relegated by the #TDF2020 commissaires.
Photo: @BeelWout pic.twitter.com/dYNmM7z9YR— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) September 9, 2020
There was no change at the top of the general classification, with Slovenian Primoz Roglic of Jumbo-Visma continuing to lead by 21 seconds from defending champion Egan Bernal of the Ineos Grenadiers.
Victory for the Lotto-Soudal’s Ewan followed his success on stage three to Sisteron.
“It was very, very hectic,” Ewan said. “I knew from the first stage that I won just to stay calm and wait for the right gap to open. I just had a real desire to win today after yesterday and I’m happy to repay my team-mates with the win.”
